Komainu Tatsu
by Firestarmlp
Summary: Lance knew before ever meeting Blue, Allura, and Coran that aliens existed. The Altens were the first ones that he met that weren't trying to conquer Earth. After all, fighting the Galra should be a piece of cake after fighting the Kranng... Right? Not if you're trying to hide in plain sight. Rated T for Lan. and Violence


_**Warning Child Abuse ! Skip to the line if it will trigger you. I have a summary of it later in the story for you.**_

Lance gasped as his papa pulled on his arm harder.

"Ow. Papá que duele. ¿Podemos por favor ir más despacio?" (Papa that hurt. Can we please go slower?) Papa growled and harshly spat out,

"Cállate, desperdicio de espacio. Te dije que no quería Escuchar tu estúpida voz. Dios mío, ¿por qué eres un desperdicio de dinero?" _(Shut up you waste of space. I told you that I didn't want to hear your stupid grating voice. Dear god why are you such a waste of money?)_ Lance deflated at the harsh words.

"Lo siento papa." _(I'm sorry Papa)_

"Shut up!" Lance winced. Papa pulled even harder, as he walked down a flight of stairs. Lance moved closer to his papa as the noonday sun disappeared. Lance bit his lip and tears started to slip from his eyes. Ever since mama died, Papa was different. Lance nearly cried as his shirt pulled against the wounds on his back. Papa never called him by his name. It was always boy or freak. Papa never celebrated his birthday either. It had got even worse after they had moved to New York because of Papa's job. Every weekend Papa would come home and drink his nasty drink and he would be even crueler. But today papa came home earlier, yelling and whipping

Lance's back to pieces. Then threw a black shirt on him and pulled him out of the door. Now they were deep underground in an old subway station. Papa released Lance's arm and pushed him away. Like Lance mere present was disgusting.

"Deja de lloriquear chico." _(Stop blubbering boy.)_ Lance stopped crying with a few sniffles. Papa backhanded Lance. "¡Te dije que dejaras de llorar! Dios mío, no puedo esperar para deshacerme de tu inútil y lloroso culo. Eres un desperdicio patético de Espacio. Tu madre…" _(I told you to stop crying! My god I can't wait to get rid of your useless, crying ass. You are a pathetic waste of space. Your mother…)_ Papa's voice broke. "Tu madre también tenía que decirte eso, pero como ya no está con nosotros, tengo que ser yo quien te lo cuente. A mi jefe no le gusta que tenga un hijo. Así que estoy haciendo lo que debería haber hecho, murió tu maravillosa madre. Voy a asegurarme de que dejes de ser un desperdicio de oxígeno para quienes lo necesitan. Asegúrate de quemarte en el infierno por matar a tu propia madre Lance." _(Your mother was to kind to tell you that, but since she is no longer with us I have to be the one to tell you. My boss doesn't like me having a kid. So I'm doing what I should have done went your wonderful mother died. I am going to make sure that you stop being a waste of oxygen for those who need it. Make sure you burn in hell for killing your own mother Lance.)_ Papa took out a gun and aimed it at Lance. Lance froze in terrier.

"Papa…." All of a sudden a large form moved from the shadows, ripping the gun away and throwing Lance's father away from Lance. The from turned to look at Lance. The only thing that Lance saw were warm brown eyes that held a sense of safety.

"You dare kill a child!" Like a switch the figure whirled on Lance's dad, warm eyes turning cold. "Do you not care that there are people would love to have a child? But you dare try to kill one without a second thought?"

"You want the freak so bad then have him. You'll see what I mean, he is just a worthless freak. He is a fucking embarrassment of his wonderful mother's legacy." Papa turned around and walked away. Not even sparing a glance at his son. Lance started to full on cry. The figure walked back to Lance. It pulled away from the hooded cloak that covered its head. Lance's eyes widened. In front of him was a giant rat.

"Do not be afraid, I will not hurt you." Lance bit the inside of his lip. The rat knelt down and looked him right in the eyes. "I promise that I will not hurt you." Lance nodded. The Rat smiled. "My name is Hamato Yoshi but you may call me Splinter. What is your name?" Lance whispered

"Mi nombre es lance" _(My name is Lance)_ Splinter smiled softly.

"Lance, how would you like to live with me? I can not promise an always full belly although I will try, I can promise a family and a home."

_***Un hogar ... No, he tenido un Hogar en mucho tiempo. Papá dijo que nunca tuve un Hogar con él ... Tal vez lo haga con este Splinter.***_ _(A home... I haven't had a home in a long time. Papa said that I never had a home with him... Maybe I will with this Splinter.)_

Lance nodded and reached out his hand. Splinter slowly moved to grab the hand, in which Lance was thankful. He didn't like fast moving hands near his face or body for that matter.

"Come, Lance, let's go home…."

* * *

Lance sat up in his bed on board the Castle of Lions. Breathing heavily Lance moved his hand to his T-Phone that was on the nightstand blasting Shell Shock. After the music was turned off Lance wrapped his arms around his legs. _***I can't believe it has nearly eleven years since I first met Sensei, things changed so much.***_ Lance shook his head and got out of bed. _***Happy 16 Birthday Lance***_ Lance smiled as he saw his face creams, remembering his 'sister' April teaching him how to use each one of them. Looking at the clock Lance saw that he still had about twenty minutes till he was supposed to be in the kitchen to help Hunk cook, so he locked his door and set it to ding when someone wanted in, Lance reach under his bed and brought out the set of weapons that he managed to bring with him into space. Mostly it was throwing stars and knives, but there was also his weapon which was a 9 inch tanto sword which fit in the sleeves of his jacket thanks to Donnie for working on it so Lance could have it with him at all times.

Wrapped around the handle of his tanto was the mask his brothers made him for his fourteenth birthday. It was a white face mask with the tails tie-dyed blue, purple, red and orange. Lance loved it. And never went anywhere without it. Taking out the blade Lance went through his kata's, and he was almost done when he heard the soft ding coming from the door. Sighing Lance took off his mask and slipped the blade into his jacket. Opening the door Lance put on his best Mikey's smile.

"Hey, Shiro what's up?"

"Training in ten." Shiro then walked away.

"Yes, sir." Lance didn't like his paladin armor. It was way too heavy and not enough flexibility for him to move like he was taught, even if he was trying to hide about his family. After taking a look around Lance then remembered that his armor was in Blue. Groaning Lance ran out his door thinking if he pushed it he may make it to training on time. As he was running into Blue's hanger, he felt the familiar feel of Blue pushing in his conscious. Lance sent back the feeling of being late and open up, please. Blue sent back laughter and acceptance. As Lance came up to Blue, he saw that her mouth was already open so he ran right up. He smiled as he saw his armor all cleaned up from the last battle and ready for him to put on.

"Thanks, Blue." Lance felt a small rumble coming from the blue lion and he put on his armor. "Now I got to run to training. Why couldn't they make this lighter?" Lance turn and ran to the training deck. He wasn't the last one thankfully but still late enough to be noticed.

"Lance, why are you so late?" Keith scowled at him. Lance frowned,

"One mullet I am not even the last one here, and secondly I am not even that late." Pidge laughed.

"I bet you that he was doing his face gunk again." Lance didn't say anything. To do so would invite more hazing from Pidge and Keith that he wouldn't want. Suddenly Blue sent Lance had an idea. A very good idea. An idea that Lance wished that he got months ago. Lance sent back 'I'll try putting it out there.' Blue sent back the feeling of heavy sky, something that Lance notice that she often used when she was talking about the Black Lion. 'You are going to talk to Black about it?' Blue sent acceptance. 'Alright beautiful I'm trusting you.' Shiro walked in with Hunk right behind him.

"Hey, Shiro I have an idea for training if you didn't have anything planned." Lance ignored the sharp pain that came from his heart at the shocked look on Shiro, Pidge, and Keith's faces. Hunk just threw him a look that basically said, 'I'm surprised and shocked that you have lasted this long.' Hunk knew that he could fight and that he hated the armor with a passion.

"Just the gladiator again. What is your idea, Lance?"

"What if we train without our armor? Say that we got captured and they took our armor. How would we fight without it?" Shiro opened his mouth then closed it and got a thoughtful look on his face. 'Thank you, Blue.' He got back something close to two thumbs up. Lance was such a good influence on the lion.

"That is actually a good idea, Lance. Even I didn't remember that the armor adds weight to use. Everyone get out of their armor." Lance smiled and shed his armor in record time. Hunk just shook his head smiling and everyone else looked at him in confusion. "Alright then. I stay out until the end. We are going to practice our hand to hand combat. Hunk v.s Keith and Pidge v.s Lance winner of each will fight each other and that winner will fight me." Lance got a feeling from Blue, the smell of the forest and the feeling of something being put into place. Which shocked Lance. Green was giving him permission to kick Pidge's ass. The more that Lance thought about it, he realizes that he could still keep his family a secret and show off a bit. Lance then sent Blue acceptance and something close to Green that said I'm going to kick her butt just you watch. Blue laughed in his head and sent a picture of Green on her back rolling in laughter. "Everyone ready?" Pidge stood in front of him smirking. She must be feeling her lion's happiness and think that she was going to win.

_***Sorry Pigeon but if you think that you are going to win this think again.***_ Everyone nodded. "Alright then begin." With that Pidge launched herself at him. Quickly sided stepping Lance stuck her foot out to trip her. She doubled stepped and tried again. Lance dodged again. Smirking as Pidge got more and more sloppy as he kept dodging, he waited for the right moment to strike. ***She must have had some form of martial arts, her form is good if a bit unrefined. Then again she never had Sensei's training. Nor four mutant ninja turtles as brothers. Plus one human kunoichi in training. And Casey he's in a level of his own.*** Lance then saw his opening. While he was playing keep away Keith whipped Hunk's butt and now, Keith and Shiro were calling out ideas for Pidge to use while Hunk was silent, but there was a small smirk forming on his lips. He probably remembered what Lance was doing. After all, he had seen Lance sparring with April often enough. Lance ran toward her went low attacking her like he would if he was training/ sparring with April. Of course, going a bit easier on her just because he was nice. Sticking out his leg and swinging it underneath her legs as well as keeping his own strength on a tight leash. She went down with an

"Ouff," and Lance quickly rolled them both to pin her arms on her back and sitting on her legs. Ignoring shocked sounds coming from Keith and Shiro, and the deep belly laughs coming from Hunk, Lance said,

"Still think you are going to win Pidgy- widgy?" He felt Pidge struggle but you really don't become a full-fledged ninja with weak muscles. Lance, of course, was a lot stronger than he looked. Pidge was pinned down and she was starting to realize it.

"I yield. How did you do that? Quiznack, I didn't even see you move." Lance just laughed, got off of her and helped her up.

"Let me guess you went up to a… maybe a green belt with some form of martial arts." Pidge nodded.

"Mom signed me up for Jiu-Jitsu when I was ten. I quit after Kerberos." Lance nodded. That explained her style of fighting and her bayard choice.

"My father was an Aikido master from an old Japanese family. He taught me and my four older brothers all we know. He even taught my adopted sister April." Shiro looked shocked.

"Why don't you ever use them in battle." Lance shrugged and put a sheepish look on his face.

"One, it never came up. Two the armor is too heavy for me to safely use it with any of my styles of fighting. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to fight without my armor. I am a lot better without than with it even with the protection it gives me." Lance gained another look. The look Lance was quite familiar with and had a considerable amount of training dealing with it. After all, lying to Sensei was a hell of a lot harder and damn near impossible.

"Is that why I always beat you in training? You can't fight with your armor?" Keith looks mad but with years of dealing with Raph Lance heard the tone of regret in his voice. *Huh I guess Mullet's head doesn't like an unfair fight with teammates* Lance just smiled sadly. Mikey taught him how to be an actor and being at the Garrison just refined it. Sensei would be proud, as long as Lance didn't use it on him.

"Yep, I haven't gotten used to fighting with the armor yet. It has been…" Lance mulled around trying to find the right word for what he was saying. Curse english being the third language that he had learned. "... difficult to change my entire fighting style cause of how heavy the armor is and I haven't figured out how yet. Considering my entire style is based on speed and agility." Lance knew that he was baiting Keith. After all, he's seen Leo do it to Raph often enough, and he did it to April when she visited him. So he knew what he was doing. Hunk started choking on air, knowing what Lance really had planned for Keith. A looooooong overdue butt kicking. Keith got a mulish look on his face. Which then turned into a determined look.

"Well, I want a fair fight right now," Lance smirked. Keith probably didn't even realize that he was baited. Or he did and didn't care.

"Alright Mullethead, let's go." Everyone backed to the sides and watched. Hunk to Lance's surprise was nearly bouncing on his heels. Blue sent feelings of frustration, confusion, and pleas. Which in turn made Lance confused but pushed it off to focus. After fighting with Keith enough times Lance didn't need to wait as he did with Pidge. Another bonus for him was that the perfect fighting style to spar with Keith was the one that he pretty much used for Raph and Leo, with a mix of one Casey Jones. Which meant being a pain in the ass, and using a two-part move which he loves because he was pretty much the only one in his family that could do it. His favorite style.

"So Mullet who taught you how to fight? I have seen stuff harder in a hockey fan." Lance heard a sharp intake of breath from Keith and Shiro's soft,

"Oh, shit….." Lance had talked to Casey about it one day. Lance being raised in a sewer was wondering why did Casey fight with a kid at school over a sport. Apparently, some fans of the NBL and the NHL absolutely hated each other. And Lance found out recently that Keith was one of those notorious people. Shiro had a really scared look on his face, Pidge and Hunk looked confused. Keith to both Blue's and Lance's delight was twitching. Honest to god twitching! Keith then growled deep and low, like a cat getting pissed off. Lance found it hilarious and he would be totally breaking down laughing after he beat Keith and Shiro.

"You better be taking that back cargo pilot." Lance's grin just widened. And they started to circle each other.

"Why of course not." Out of the corner of his eye, he could Shiro get a fearful look on his face and was trying to motion to get Lance to stop. _***Like hell Shiro. You guys shouldn't have underestimated me then.* **_ "What would be the fun in that Columbus braveheart." With that Lance had to move as he nearly saw steam coming out of Keith. That is when Lance grinned, he soooo needed this. Pidge fighting like April and Keith fighting like Raph. It helped with his homesickness this once. Lance then started to fight back. Two swift kicks to the mid stomach and a punch to the chest had Keith moving back but by then he was too late, Lance had jumped to have one leg wrapped over his neck and other one swept to the other side forcing Keith to drop or face getting his neck snapped. He then moved so that he had Keith in a technical mount and had Keith left arm wrapped around his neck. Lance tried the two-part move with Raph one night about a year ago. Well, he won the fight, but Raph was a bit pissy afterward from it. Then for the next week and a half tried to convince Lance to teach him it. Then spent the rest of the week in a sour mood cause he couldn't the moves due to his large shell. Keith squirmed for a good bit before Lance got annoyed and pulled the left arm closer to him, stopping him immediately.

"Tap out now. Trust me when I say that I have held someone even stronger and larger than you for over fifteen minutes in this move." Keith looked like he was thinking about doing something but then thought better and tapped out. Lance quickly got off of him and held out. "Ya know I only said the hockey comment because I knew that it would make you mad. My friend Casey got into a fistfight with a kid at his school over the same issue. So I know not to use it unless I want to get someone so pissed to the point of not really thinking. I know that you are a bred and born NBL fan."

Keith looked at the hand, then at Lance's innocent face. Grabbing it Keith groundout,

"Teach me that move the I'll consider forgiving you."

"We'll see. I don't think I am a good teacher though. I tried teaching my brother the same moves but he couldn't." _***The less they know the better for me in the future. I hope.***_ Shiro looked a bit surprised, proud (which threw Lance off) and also a bit worried. _***Ha, just realize that you knew nothing on how I really fought now did you oh talented leader.***_ Lance dusted off some imaginary dust. Not even breathing hard after fighting Keith, Lance commented,

"Are you ready oh fearless leader? I can do this all day." Both Pidge and Hunk busted out laughing remembering a movie night at the Garrison in which Lance did the scene from 'Captain America the First Avenger' perfectly. Shiro nodded his head removed his shoes and socks and moved to the center. Lance got across of him after doing the same thing. Shiro bowed which at first got Lance confused then he remembered Shiro's full name. He bowed low as well. Shiro got into a stance in which Lance was impressed. He didn't think that Shiro that good at Aikido to know that stance. Lance move to the simplest version of the Aikido stance. Lance had an ace in his pocket. Sensei Splinter had told Lance when he was around 9 that he was a near master at misdirecting and Decepticon. So they change his learning style. The style that, with the little help that Sensei could give him, he had very nearly mastered when he left for the Garrison. It was a mix of Jujitsu and Aikido. An ancient mix that wasn't as well known and very hard to learn. It involved a lot of acrobats, flexibility, and speed. Which was fine with Lance because those were his three main skills. Shiro nodded to Hunk.

"Begin." Hunk's voice rang out. Shiro struck first. Whipping around he struck with a high kick and then to a throw. Lance turned around and used his own momentum against him. As Shiro stumbled Lance move to block again. Shiro made for a grab that would have pinned him by backflipping away from him. That is when Shiro froze. The move was only used in the style which made Lance's respect of Shiro rise. When he saw that Shiro was looking at him in something very close to awe. Shiro spoke in Japanese, which for some reason came easier to Lance than english did.

"You know the Komainu Tatsu."

"Yes. I didn't think that you knew about it?" Shiro tried attacking again making Lance go on the offensive. The best thing about the Komainu Tatsu was that there was no known way of fighting against it. But when Lance said that it was incredibly hard to learn meant, that it took him till he got his acceptance letter for the Garrison to even get close to mastering it. It wasn't very long that Lance had Shiro pinned.

"How close are you to mastering it?" Shiro asked after he was released from the pin holder.

"My teacher said I had over 85% of it mastered when I left for the Garrison." Everybody jumped as Shiro cursed in Japanese. Lance started to blush as he mentally translated what Shiro was saying.

"Man if I ever said even HALF of that in earshot of my dad he would wash my mouth out with lye soap, then make sure that I had learned my lesson by making me do ten 90 degree push-ups for each word he heard THEN 20 Aztec push-ups for good measure," Lance commented. Pidge asked,

"What is a 90 degree push up and an Aztec push-up?" Lance sighed.

"A 90 degree push up is when you start out doing a push-up but change to make a headstand without letting your head touch the floor and go back to a push-up. An Aztec push up is when you touch your toes in midair while having your legs straight." Everyone paled. "Hey, I would still take that over Randori any day. Trust me, my brothers and I this one time disobeyed our father this one time and we all thought that we managed to fool him ya know." Lance shivered. "He wasn't fooled at all. The worst thing about it was that it happened twice in a span of twenty-four hours." Lance muttered, "I still think that it was Mikey fault that we were caught the first time." Everyone laughed. Shiro apparently had calmed down to talk by then.

"Sorry for freaking out but seriously one surprise a day at least. For you to have nearly mastered at your age…. My dad is trying for most of his life and he still only 50% done."

"My dad has no clue as to how I mastered it so fast, he only knew the starting stances. All he had were books on it. Really it just came naturally for me." Shiro shook his head. Disbelieve prominent on his face.

"I'll talk to Coran about changing your armor to something lighter to work with that still has all of the protection that you need. And what about your Bayard? A gun doesn't really work with…."

"Ah yes, it is actually pretty close to a sniper rifle that I had used when I was at the Garrison.

"OH!" Hunk cried out. "I remember that. Didn't the sniper team lose a team member due to a cold or something and you were the only one they found that could work on such short notice for the tournament." Lance laughed.

"Yea. I couldn't find a cheap enough ticket to get home for the holiday, so when Sam came up to me asked to sub in for Gred. I said yes if I got to leave to spend time with my family. He got sick with nasty phenomena two days before they were set to leave. I literally was the last resort. But hey it got me to New York in time for the holidays. And I got us first place too. That's where I got the nickname the Tailor. The shot I had to take thru an obstacle course and hit an apple on the other side. Got it on the first shot. Which was good because that is when the freak snowstorm hit and I found my family in time to leave town for a bit during it." Lance used the cover story that The Garrison told him to use when they realized that Lance had family in New York when the second Kraang invasion happen. Thankfully the heads realized that there was no way kids who had family in New York would focus so they made the winter break till the invasion was stopped. Till Lance's family stopped it. "Now as much as I love the get to know you all over again, my stomach is currently trying to commit mutiny and is demanding food to stop." Everyone laughed and grabbed their armor. As Lance was about to grab his Shiro's human hand stopped him.

"I was serious about having Coran working on your armor." Lance looked into the gray eyes.

"Really?" Lance didn't mean to sound so hopeful but hearing the chance that he wouldn't have to wear the heavy armor which restricted his movements by soooo much made him hopeful. Shiro frowned.

"How long have you been suffering from your armor, Lance?"

"Honestly?" Lance spoke english as the room emptied. Shiro had waved of Keith and Hunk so it was just the two of them.

"If you would please. But you don't have to if you don't want to." Lance took a deep breath. If he had, to be honest, this was the best thing that ever happened to him… well in space at least, next to finding the Blue Lion.

"Ever since the first time I put it on." Shiro's eyes widened.

"Why didn't you say anything Lance?!" Lance winced as Shiro shouted. He still didn't do well with human males shouting in his face. Lance sighed to cover up his wince.

"By the time I actually had my feet underneath me from being in space and being so far away from my family, I already had a place on the team. I was the joker, the one who made sure that none of us drowned in the sorrow of the war. Would you have believed me, Shiro? If I told you that the armor was too heavy? That I was training with Aikido since I was six? Would anyone believe me, Shiro?" Lance was close to crying at that point. Months of near abuse the team was giving him had been taking its toll on him. "I'm going to go eat." Breaking out of Shiro's grip was easier than he expected. After he left the training room he turned left instead of right, making his way to Blue. "Hey Hermosa, ¿puedes dejarme entrar, por favor?" _(Hey Beautiful, can you let me in, please?)_

Shiro stared at Lance retreating back.

_***How didn't I see it? I am supposed to be the team leader but what good am I if I can't see one of my teammates suffering.***_ Shiro looked up to see everyone entering the room.

"So I am guessing that I am correct in that you heard everything?" Hunk nodded for everyone. Out of all of them, Hunk looked the least surprised or the least stricken. Keith looked the worse. Which turned into rage when he saw Hunk

"DUDE why aren't you more hurt about Lance? I thought that you guys were best friends."

"Because I knew what Lance was doing. After spending close to three years with him as a roommate, I can read him very well. Or as well as he would let me." That shocked everyone but Shiro who had already guessed. Hunk chuckled. "He was always a great actor." That is when the alarms went off. Shiro snapped to attention.

"Everyone gets to there lions, just grab your helmets. Full armor will have to wait till later. Hunk your hanger is close to Lance's go take him his helmet. It shouldn't bother him as much as the rest and he can deal till Coran gets it fixed for him." Everyone nodded and Hunk ran and grabbed both helmets, putting his on his head and the other under his arm. He then turned and ran out the door.

* * *

The battle that followed was quick and in favor of the Paladins. Blue was moving easier and smoother than before which struck Shiro like a hot iron. Lance wearing his armor was affecting more than just him too. Blue was moving a lot like Lance did when he was without his armor. As soon as they formed Voltron it was like a heavy weight was lifted. And it was easier to fight the monster that Zarkon sent after them. When each got back inside and was in the control room watching Allura wormhole the castle safely away. The only one who was missing was Lance. Hunk just said before anyone could ask,

"He'll show up. He does this after every battle. It is the reason why he is always late. I think that it had something to do with his family." Everyone just nodded.

"It is kinda a good thing he is not here though. I'd like to talk about him. I'll assume that everyone with a lion felt what happened when we formed Voltron." The princess and Coran looked shocked.

"Number one what happened?" Keith answered instead.

"We were lighter, faster…." Keith was silent his brows furrowed in deep thought.

"It was like a heavy weight was lifted. I can't believe…" Pidge stopped a shocked look on her face.

"What happened Paladins?"

"We need to change Lance's armor. That is why we were faster. Did you see how Blue and Lance moved out there? Lance's…"

"That armor has been the Blue paladins' armor for decaphoephs. Why would have to change it?" Shiro looked at the two of them with a look.

"Coran pull up today's training videos. Then ask me if keeping the armor the same is the best." The Alteans frowned but did as he asked. They were soon enraptured at Lance's fighting.

"Why did he never say anything?"

"Ya' know I have yet to answer that question for myself." Allura and Coran screamed, Hunk and Keith reached for the closest bayard (and grabbed the wrong one)and Pidge raced herself to and climb Shiro like a tree and sat on his head. While Shiro had his galra hand raised and lit. Lance just stood there with an odd phone in one hand and a bowl of goo. Lance set the bowl down. Then broke out laughing his head off.

"Man sooo I'm glad I got that on camera." Lance's grin was contagious. Soon everyone was laughing.

"Lance, why did you hide that you could fight like that?" Lance froze and his eyes got wide. He sputtered with half-formed words. Then got really quiet and still. Finally, Lance sighed and looked passed everyone. Lance kept tensing his back like he was hurt there.

"I was born in Cuba sixteen years ago. Mamá _(mama)_ died when I was around five… maybe four. Papa couldn't figure out how to live without her so…" Lance stopped at took a bit of his goo. Shiro frowned. Lance's movements where mechanical, like he was forcing himself to eat. "So he turned to alcohol." Shiro's eyes widened.

_***Lance didn't mean that his dad, the one who taught him Komainu Tatsu, was…***_

Lance's laugh interrupted Shiro's thoughts but it wasn't a nice laugh.

"Even after all these years I still can't stop calling him papa. Raph is still pissed that I call him that." the tight knot which found a way in Shiro's stomach loosened. "Papa he…. He kept on telling me that it was my fault that mamá died. I don't even remember how she died, a type of sickness the doctors couldn't cure or something. It got worse as we moved to New York. Those months were hell." Lance kept staring out into space. About every other minute, Lance twitched. "It wasn't till my….sixth birthday that things turned to the better. That is when Sensei Splinter found me." Lance smiled this time it was one that no one could remember seeing. It was so soft and sweet Shiro could have sworn that he hears both Pidge and Allura coo. "He saved me from my dad trying to kill me." Gasps came from everyone else while Shiro felt the knot disappear. "He had already adopted four other boys seven years earlier so I fitted right in. They became my new family. One that I would die to protect. Sensei, he…" Lance started to bite his lips. "He has this person who was hunting him down. His name is Shredder. He killed Sensei's wife and kidnapped his daughter, making her think that he was her father, not Sensei. I couldn't risk Shredder finding me, cuz I knew that he would use me against my family. So when I signed up for the Garrison, I use what I think was my mamá's maiden name. And I hid the fact that I could fight in the middle of the Garrison. The reason that Hunk knew that I could fight was that he caught me sparring with my sister April." Lance took a deep breath. "So yea most of the reason why I hid was that of habit. The other part well was because by the time I got my feet underneath me…"

"You felt like you found already had a place on the team. The Joker." Lance tore his eyes away from the stars and looked at Pidge.

"Hh-how did did you know?" Pidge looked sheepish and rubbed her neck.

"We sorta, meaning Keith and Hunk, decided listened to your talk in the training room." Hunk threw Pidge a look of complete betrayal and Keith muttered,

"Traitor." Pidge continued like she didn't hear or see them.

"But Lance that is not who you are." Pidge walked up to him and pull his head down to look him in the eyes. "Who you are is the big brother that I was missing. The one that will be there for me if I miss my mom, or the one that encourages me to not give up on finding Matt and my dad."

"You're the brother that I go to if I miss Earth. When I miss my family and need a bit of home to keep me going." Lance had started to cry, and Hunk walked up to the duo and wrapped his arms around the two of them.

"Lance listen to me." Lance looked up to see Keith standing there awkwardly. "My dad died when I was seven, cancer. But never once did I doubt that he loved me, and I don't know if…"

"Keith stop." Lance broke out of the hug pile that he was in and walk over to stand in front of Keith. "I never got a chance to tell you why I said that you were my rival did I?" Keith got a really sour look on his face. Lance, on the other hand, had a growing smirk on his face. "Two of my older brothers, their names are Leo and Raph. Those two fight like cats and dogs. Raph always wanted to be better than Leo, and Leo…"Lance smirk disappeared to a slow sad smile. "Leo was always the best at anything Sensei taught him. And he always tried to protect us as the oldest. But there was this one time Leo got beat up real bad." Lance sad smile stayed on his face but Shiro could see his eyes grow haunted. Keith could to by the looks of it. He kept reaching out his hand to touch his arm but kept pulling away at the moment. "Bad enough that we didn't know if he was going to live or not. Raph stayed by his side every day when he could and every night even after one of us tried to pull him away to get some sleep." Lance shook his head. "What I am trying to say is that. Even though I can't remember the bonding moment that we had, because I CAN'T. I talked to Coran afterward. He said that it because I hit my head in the explosion and the closest human terms that I can put it in was that I had a really bad concussion and combined with me falling asleep in the cryo-pod, with my injuries, I can't remember. I want too. I really do because I saw what an effect that it had on you and I wanted to see if I could do it again. That I could be a good friend the only way that I really knew how. By being my older brothers." Suddenly Keith's eyes widened as Lance's words made it through his head.

"You only knew how to…. be my…." With that Keith broke down in stuttering apologies and 'I'm sorry,' and 'I didn't know' Lance pulled him into a hug and just smiled. Soft, sweet smile, one so full of homesickness but peace and that is when it hit Shiro. _***I can't believe how wrong I was about Lance. And he's been hurt because of it.* **_Shiro stepped forward and touched Lance's arm.

"I am so sorry Lance." Lance froze and looked at Shiro in confusion.

"Why are you sorry Shiro?"

"I believed that you nothing more than a jokester and a joke. I never thought about looking deeper and…" Lance started laughing.

"Shiro I understand. I made that mask for that reason. The more people that underestimate me the more I can get away with stuff. I mean I use some of my moves at the Mall trying to get away, and none of you saw. Sensei says that I am a master at distracting people from my real goals." Pidge looked at Lance weirdly.

"When did you use…. The fountain! You kept everyone away while I money dived."

"Exactly."

"I hate to break this up but we are coming up on the corrodents that Ulaz gave us."

Shiro looked at Lance and Keith.

"Lance the Komainu Tatsu is normally a ninja movement yes?" Lance's eyes got real big, then he grinned and shook his head.

"I appreciate what you are trying to do Shiro. I really do. But think about the Blades, if you tell then right when we get there that you want to add another person to the previous agreement that only two paladins are coming and you show up when three. They won't trust us." Shiro nodded.

"I understand that. I'm also wondering, do you have a ..." All of sudden Shiro had a blade at his throat. And the rest of the words died on his tongue. Lance had a full smirk across his face.

"Yea I have a weapon and I know how to use it too." Lance twisted his hand away from Shiro and the blade danced away from him. It was a 9 inch tanto sword, but the strange thing about it was that is had a tie-dyed scrap of fabric tied near the end of the handle. Coran held out his hand and Lance had a worried look on his face, then with the utmost care flipped the handle around and held it out for Coran to take. Coran grasped the handle with care took a look at the blade.

"This blade as seen some battles, where did you get it?"

"My sensei brought it over from Japan. It has been in his family for years." Coran nodded. "What is the scrap of fabric that is on the handle," Lance smirked.

"An old birthday present. I've had it for years. Normally I have it tied to my wrist when I am wearing my paladin armor. But yesterday I tied it to the handle. Can I have my tanto back now? Also if anyone needs me I'll be in my room, but I might not answer cuz I'm meditating."

Lance took the blade from Coran and turned and walked out of the room, taking his phone and the empty bowl with him. Keith turned and started following Lance out of the room,

"See you in Red's hanger Shiro." Shiro nodded.

_**This showed up as a plot bunny that wouldn't leave me alone. So I wrote it out instead. Please review your thoughts about it. It is just the first chapter of it. I was planning on waiting till I had it finished but once I got to 13 pages and over 7000 words I decided just to make it a multichapter Fanfic. What I am not starting to do is make a youtube playlist that has all of the songs that I wrote in the story or listened to while I wrote it. Here is the link to it **_ watch?v=y2qZOuU8K_8&list=PLeYhq-pGxGGaT8BNvOLpi0PjAQHsiMcrk&index=42&t=0s

_**Also, I apologize for my crappy Spanish and Japanese. If you are interested in fixing my translations in any of my stories PLEASE pm with the correct translation and I will fix it as to as possible. **_

_**Firestarmlp**_

_**Also, I am looking for a beta reader for all of my stories on here. Please...**_


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